quarter23cd

Right, that's the thing. But for a lot of people (me included), these "risky" loan products were a great foot-in-the-door kind of deal. Most people (who lived to tell about it) chose to refi and/or buy another house with a more "traditional" loan at the first opportunity. For some people, though, the doorknob hit them on the way out, so to speak.

This is true. It boggled my mind, when buying my first house, to learn that it was possible to do such a thing as "buy" a house without putting anything down. As a philosophical question, anyway, how much equity do you have to have to be considered a "homeowner"? That's neither here nor there, I guess. These "renters", as you call them, that are being foreclosed upon--they're losing their homes and having their credit decimated, which is plenty to feel for them about.(even the ones that didn't have a ton of equity to be lost, it still blows, to put it mildly) The ones that did have a lot

This is true. Partly just due to the fact that market conditions got so wacky for a while there. We bought our first house in CT in '04 when the whole northeast was turning into one big super-mega-bubble that was just escalating and compounding itself by the year. It was nuts. We were in a situation where we just had our first kid and were asked (politely) to move out of our dirt-cheap (by comparison) apartment in White Plains by the older couple we rented the upstairs of their house from so their son could move home. Multi-bedroom apartments in the area were going for >$2300K per mon

I live on a boulevard. Does anybody have any data on that? I also work for a company that is exclusively a software vendor for banks, so yeah, it kind of blows watching a bunch of our clients dropping like flies. When the layoffs come, I suppose I could always go back to mowing yards and painting houses like I did in high school.

Fatigue? This is interesting--I hadn't heard about this, either. The article is a little short on details (ie, Lobe described the dialogue as conversation that "occurred in sacred space." -- that doesn't really say anything to me), but I'm a pretty firm believer in the idea that diplomacy is a good thing. I'm not sure what reaction you were hoping for. For now, file this one under "Huh, that's interesting."

Give 'em hell, Vandy.

In the interest of saving space, I'm only quoting the beginning of this, but really, that was a fantastic post and probably deserves to be posted in its entirety at least once per page in this thread. Thank you.

Heh. That Maryland football team has always been an enigma. They seem to pull out wins against ranked opponents all the time, yet they are inconsistent enough on the whole that it always catches people off guard when they do. I agree about Bowden, though. If he had a different last name, he'd be gone by now.

Meh. Try doing it every day for eight fucking years when the people offering up the horseshit have actual ruling power to execute their horseshit, and while certain mavericky types do cartwheels on the sidelines with their cheerleader outfits on and practically shout "Gimme an H..." Bitter? Sure. Both parties have their share of horseshit, but only one has consistently appalled me at seemingly every opportunity for longer than I can even recall at this point. The reason his sneering condescension and the cynical win-at-all-cost, consequences-be-damned theatrics of the campaign, while c

Congrats to the Meeshagin. I had a hunch Bucky was vulnerable, but not sure I really believed they could pull this out. Of course, you guys have now pissed them off for next week against OSU. OSU played another uneven game today, but they're getting stronger. The Pryor/Beanie combo in the backfield is something special and it was good to see this team finally seem to get rolling, but (as usual) they got sloppy in the second half. I'd still love to see more consistency, but hey, they're getting better. And Pryor did a few things today that made me grin--dude ran over people, stiffarmed

Of course he shouldn't be smug and dismissive, ala McCain last night, but if she pulls out one her nonsensical answers she's been prone to giving in interviews lately, he needs to drop the kid gloves and go for the knockout. Don't let up because of the "sexy knees" somebody mentioned above, debating her should be no different than debating any other candidate.

I tuned in late, after (finally) getting the little ones to bed. I tuned in just in time for Obama's "You were wrong" attack as (evidently) the topic shifted from the economy to national security. My overall impression? Kind of a wash, honestly. This topic was McCain's home turf and this was easily the most focused-sounding he's been in a while, so props to him for that. But he also came across as condescending and bitchy, really wanting to school the "new kid" but it didn't go over so well most of the time. Obama more than held his own in this, equipped with facts, figures, names, and

No, I absolutely agree with you, which is why I was trying to go out of my way not to include that. Yeah, no secret that there's going to be some percentage of the vote (from both parties) that will vote because of prejudices--it sucks, but its a reality we all knew going in. The education thing--meh--I know plenty of intelligent conservatives. There's an argument about the whole populism thing of "Real Americans" which tends to mock intelligent and articulate people as "talking down", so I don't know what to make of that. I'm really more interested in knowing, really, what in what he is s

I was trying not to go there, but yeah.

I'm going to try to follow this logic. Bush has a lot of opposers for some very legit reasons. Like 80% of the country. McCain hasn't been one of those opposers--in fact an enabler much of the time, so lets assume he inherits those opposers--at the very least the self-identified Dems and a lot of indies. Plus, Obama has a large group of geniune supporters. Obama has opposers because he is viewed as "too liberal" by some, even though the other complaint I hear most is that he is too vague when he speaks. The two arguments kind on contradict each other, because if you haven't bothered to

I would say no. The tone of his campaign over the last couple months smells of Rove and/or his acolytes. I don't get the sense that McCain is at the wheel right now.

That just might work!!!! BTW, I need to get this off my chest. I'm glad McCain announced he'd be showing up to the debate last night, because I had a dream last night of Obama showing up alone to do the town-hall thing he promised and then somebody runs up to him on stage to whisper in his ear that McCain is in the building, and then McCain and his entourage enter the arena pro-wrestling style with music blaring and lights flashing and shit with McCain barking out taunts at Obama and Obama stalking around the stage/ring shouting for the old man to bring it on. And, honestly, with the stu

I don't think it will happen. With barely a month until the election, I think it would cause irreparable damage, no matter who they brought on board. It couldn't be another unknown if they admit this one is a fiasco. The scrutiny would be intense and the trust in judgment would be shot. Then who? Mitt? Rudy? Jeb Bush? The Law & Order guy? I don't imagine the great undecided masses lining up to throw a parade for any of those guys.

I'm not really sure what thread this belongs in, but is the National Review really saying that WaMu failed because it hired too many minorities??

Completely agreed. He is all over the place. Panic? Maybe. He looks like hell, which keeps lending more credence to those who insist his health is failing.(which is what drives a lot of the alarmism about Palin) Or mabye he's uncomfortable and hemmed in by the Rove-style politics and ridiculous grandstanding tactics his campaign has adopted. For once, the GOP seems to be the more "splintered" party right now and he's twisting himself into an ideological pretzel to keep everybody happy. I dunno. Maybe he's just tired. The debate tonight will finally be a good place for the public to ge

Thank goodness that's settled.

If I were the type to support local businesses in that miserable hellhole of a state up north, that looks like the kind of place I would support. Hypothetically. (btw - I've been noticing Bell's showing up on a lot of shelves down here. Good stuff! Hypothetically.)

Not so fast. There are several hours left before the debate. There might be a kitten in a tree that needs saving. Not that McCain would save it...but he'd be there for the cameras, at least. For the good of the country. And I think you meant to say "Its on, witches!"

Agreed.

I don't think these people are going to be too happy about your trash barrel plan.